“Secretary of Explaining Stuff” Bill Clinton: The GOP should really help fix these ObamaCare “glitches”

Erika JohnsenPosted at 4:41 pm on September 4, 2013

As part of their wide-ranging attempt to ‘educate’ and ‘inform’ the still largely confused public about the manifold and wondrous benefits available to them via ObamaCare if only they’ll be so obliging as to sign up for it, the White House is deploying Bill “explainer in chief” Clinton to help garner some much-needed positive attention for the health care overhaul. Clinton will be making speeches on behalf of ObamaCare as part of a bunch of events the White House has planned for this fall to help raise public awareness for the newly-minted exchanges opening on October 1st, but of course, don’t blame the countless broken promises, delays, errors, and “glitches” on anything inherent in progressive, big-government policies themselves. If there are problems, it’s obviously because those spiteful Republicans are preventing Democrats’ visions from being fully realized — but besides that charming and now familiar message, the whole thing was kind of anticlimactic.

In a policy-heavy speech that lasted almost an hour, Clinton praised the sweeping insurance law and argued that – despite some problems inherent in the massive legislation – this new structure is better than the old health care system.

“It seems to me that the benefits of reform can’t be fully realized and the problems certainly can’t be solved unless both the supporters and the opponents of the original legislation work together to implement it and address the issues that arise any time you change a system this complex,” he said.

“There are always drafting errors, unintended consequences, unanticipated issues. We’re going to do better working together and learning together than we will trying over and over to repeal a law or rooting for reform to fail.”

Clinton, known for his stem-winding policy talks, won laughter for saying he believed the topic was important enough for a more disciplined verbal path.

“I have done something unusual for me,” he said, waving pieces of paper in each hand. “I actually wrote this whole thing out. I am going to try to use very few adjectives [and] explain how this works, what’s been done, and what has to be done.”

Can you feel the enthusiasm?

Anyhow, Politico points out that the speech — as generally uneventful as it was — is probably trying to serve a dual purpose. It’s no good letting yourself fade from the public eye when you’ve got big plans for the future, you know:

But the 42nd president’s choice of venue — his old stomping grounds of Little Rock, Ark. — was also telling. It’s a place he’ll be visiting frequently during the 2014 campaign cycle, to help out a pair of Democrats Clinton has known for decades trying to win tough races in the reddening state.

His former driver when he was governor of the state, Mike Ross, is running for that very seat next year. And a longtime friend and ally, Mark Pryor, is facing a tough reelection battle for the U.S. Senate. Clinton already raised $1 million for Pryor earlier this year, and has let it be known to many Democrats how committed he is to seeing him win an expected battle against Republican Rep. Tom Cotton.

But Clinton’s interest, as some see it, isn’t only about next year but three years from now. Political writers have already devoted ink to the idea that Clinton’s investment of time in the state is partly aimed at helping his wife, Hillary Clinton, possibly put the increasingly conservative state into the Democratic column in 2016 if she runs.